Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a plug connector including a housing being made of insulating material and having contact chambers in which contact elements with a terminal region and a contact region are disposed in a row, at least one contact spring disposed in a row parallel to them, each contact spring connecting two contact elements with one another as a short-circuit bridge and having a spring base resting on the inside of an outer wall of the housing and at least one freely yielding contact leg having a projection being aimed at the contact elements as a contact point and being connected to the spring base at one end through a bend with U-shaped cross section, and a plug body being made of insulating material, being constructed with a row of contact pins or blades intended for insertion into the contact elements and being constructed with a contact breaker element made of insulating material in a row parallel thereto for each short-circuit bridge, for lifting a contact spring from the joined-together contact elements when the housing and plug body are coupled together.
German Petty Patent G 90 10 565.6 discloses a plug connector, in which contact devices are provided in a second contact chamber row in order to form a break contact in the non-coupled state of the housing and the plug body. Each of the contact devices is constructed with at least one spring leg being bent at an angle and each cooperate with at least one spring leg protruding into the second contact chamber row of the contact elements disposed in the first contact chamber row. In that known plug connector, the break contact is opened by virtue of the fact that, when the housing and the plug body are coupled together, an insulating pin of the plug body forces the spring legs of the contact devices and contact elements apart in opposite directions at the bent contact points contacting one another.
Published European Application No. 0 389 779 A2 discloses a multi-pole plug configuration with a short-circuit bridge. That bridge includes a contact spring with a freely yielding contact leg that is joined to a spring base through a U-shaped bend. The actuation of the short-circuit bridge is carried out through a contact breaker, which is introduced into the configuration from the side of the U-shaped bend and is thrust onto the entire contact leg far enough to ensure that the contact point located at the free end of the contact leg is lifted from the contact parts.